The City Corp. board of directors elected officers for 2012 at its meeting Tuesday.

Tommy Richardson will serve as chairman, Don Guess as vice chairman and Art Jones as secretary. The board also introduced freshman board member Luke Duffield and honored outgoing chairman Dave Palfreeman for his years of service to the board. Richardson presented Palfreeman, who served on the board from 200-2011, with a commemorative plaque.

“I love and appreciate every one of you, and it’s been a joy to serve,” Palfreeman said.

Also on Tuesday, General Manager Craig Noble applauded City Corp. staff for a quick response to address a large leak on a 12-inch water line on Sunday.

“I want to commend the staff,” he said. “They got together, came up with a plan.”

He said the problem was mitigated due to “the devotion of these people — of all the team members on that project.”

In other business, board members received an update on the design process for improvement to the utility’s wastewater treatment facility. Craig Johnson of CDM Smith said a kickoff meeting took place last week and a design plan developed. Surveying for the project is being completed this week, and other geotechnical work will be conducted this month.

The design for improvements will 100 percent complete by June 27, Johnson said. After that, the plan will be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) for review, a process which he said could take five to eight months. Johnson said he expected a project start date in January or February 2013.

A complete timeline for design, construction and finance — $8.5 million in bonds are expected to be issued to pay for the improvements to the facility — will be developed and presented to both the board and representatives from the city of Russellville, Noble said.